WELCOME TO WESTON TOWN HALL, SIDE ENTRANCE.It had stopped raining around the time LWV of Weston video team
arrived...did we mention that Weston's colors are green and green?

THE STAGE WAS SET.
Flowers fresh from a LWV member's garden, hand carved version of the
Town of Weston Seal and then Weston First Selectman Nina Daniel opened
the program.

THE PRIMARY SPEAKER
Former Congressman Bob Steele, who eventually settled in Ledyard, CT
(pre-Foxwoods) gave a remarkable history of the curse of gambling in
Connecticut.

SENATOR TONY HWANG
The leading opponent of more gambling in the state gave a full and
detailed description of bills that have been brought to the floor of the
C.G.A. so far. But he warned the next weeks are crucial to making
sure the Legislature understands why more gambling is not the way
out of any fiscal morass.

FIRST QUESTION:
Why doesn't the Legislature admit taxes have to go up? Answer
was, maybe they do - but not until government at the State of CT level
runs more efficiently (giving examples of waste and inefficiency now).

SECOND QUESTION AND DOING A RUNNING STORY ON FACEBOOK AS THE MEETING PROGRESSED!
How can people be made to understand the points about negative
consequesnces if government is complicit in papering them over? (I
think this was the question from this individual [will check it out
when we watch the video later today].)

PREVIOUS SPEAKER MAY HAVE COMPARED THE STOCK MARKET TO A CASINO...OR KENO?
Begging to differ, next questioner asked for clarification of the
parallel - perhaps, it was noted, the online "games" have similarity to
day trading online?

WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
Eyes wide open, the next questioners wondered how anyone can know what is going happen and how it will turn out???

WHAT CAN WESTONITES DO?
Answer: WRITE TO YOUR LEGISLATORS!!! Remind them there are no
current cost estimates for the negative impacts of casino gambling -
which is slot machines nowadays. Women over the age of 50 are the
biggest players.

AND THEN THE MEETING WAS OVER - A BIT AFTER 12 NOON

"Thanks" to LWV of Weston, says First Selectman!

L E A G U E H I S T O R Y

LWVCT
Convention
1993...
Weston LWV's proposal was subject to caucus as a non-recommended
item, and prevailed on the floor. Leading to LWVCT taking a
position, after state-wide meetings and study...against extensions of
forms of gambling.

It says a lot about a piece of legislation when, as the
Connecticut General Assembly is wont to do, lawmakers act
at the last moment, hold no public hearings, and pass it
in the wee hours of the morning.

Such is the case with this yearís budget package, which
featured language legalizing keno, a highly addictive
video numbers game that essentially offers a new lottery
every five minutes. The budget passed the
Democratic-controlled General Assembly largely along party
lines. The Keno provision was an open secret among
lawmakers and the casinos that stand to profit from the
expansion of gambling in the state. For obvious reasons
(perhaps the odious nature of the product in a state
thatís already too dependent on gambling revenues?) the
public was kept in the dark.

Adding insult to injury, however, is that, as of early
this month, the secrecy continues. We still know very
little about when or where the game will be played. We
know only that by next year keno could be played at about
600 different locations in our tiny state, including
restaurants, taverns, and establishments already licensed
to sell lottery tickets.

On the legal side, it looks like the stateís two Indian
casinos, which claim exclusive rights to casino-style
gambling, are on board with the plan, thanks to what
amounts to a bribe from the legislature that shares 12.5
percent of the keno take with each tribe. The state is
expected to collect an estimated $31 million during the
first two years of keno. And unlike the lottery or the
gross receipts tax, thereís no pretending the proceeds
will go toward a popular cause such as education or
transportation. No, the new revenue will go straight into
the general fund to help close a chronic budget gap.

A recent lottery board meeting adjourned to executive
session when talk turned to keno. And officials refused to
answer questions from attendees and reporters after
emerging from behind closed doors. Frank Farricker,
chairman of the Lottery Board of Directors, told my editor
Christine Stuart there had been some limited open
discussions of keno at the June board and subcommittee
meetings, but I canít find any record of them online.

[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the CT NEWS JUNKIE website]

The all-out sprint for more gambling is on, with Gov.
Dannel P. Malloy signaling he doesn't want Connecticut
left at the starting gate.

We've got more than enough state-sanctioned opportunities
for people to lose money, but Malloy is probably right
when he says that outlook is irrelevant now that the
federal Department of Justice has given the OK to turning
computers and mobile devices into virtual casinos. It's
hideous, but that won't stop it from coming to your local
Internet connection.

Within a year, online gambling, up to now both illegal and
popular, is likely to be everywhere, or at least in the
many states that will likely choose to legalize it. This
could mean logging on for blackjack, poker or slot
machine-style games, not to mention making a trip to the
convenience store for a lottery ticket kind of like buying
an actual newspaper.

The more interesting question now becomes how aggressive
will the Malloy administration be when it comes to growing
gambling and protecting what are two of the world's
largest and most profitable casinos. Having a substantial
online operation will be essential for casinos to be
successful in the future, industry insiders say.

As gambling expands in neighboring states in coming years,
Connecticut will likely lose thousands of its
bricks-and-mortar casino patrons from Massachusetts and
New York, while the gambling meccas of New Jersey and
Nevada move quickly into online gambling.

[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the Hartford COURANT website]

"I'm going to be looking at what we can do to prevent this
from happening,'' McKinney said late this afternoon.

Earlier, Malloy suggested that a recent Department of
Justice legal opinion opening the door for online gambling
will lead states across the nation to jump aboard.

"We're going to have Internet gambling in Massachusetts,
in Connecticut, in Rhode Island, in California, in Nevada
and Mississippi and Alabama and I could go through all 50
states because the Internet is the Internet,'' Malloy
said. "You don't turn off the Internet at any state's
borders," Malloy said.

McKinney said Congress could step in and prevent that. "We
are talking about a legal opinion from an attorney in the
Department of Justice,'' he said. "Certainly Congress
could say were going to change our laws and make sure
thatís not happening. I would encourage our members of
Congress to do that.''

But even if Congress doesn't act and other states begin
offering online gambling options, that doesn't mean
Connecticut can't regulate it, McKinney said. "It's our
job to stand up for the health and safety of our citizens.
We can take a position,'' he said.

[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the Hartford COURANT website]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is bristling at the suggestion that he's
bringing online gambling to the state.

"I think
there is a level of misunderstanding about online gambling and its
prospects in the state of Connecticut," Malloy said during a brief
press conference at the legislative office building earlier this
morning.

Malloy's
remarks, which came at the end of a press conference about storm
preparedness, were in response to a U.S. Department of Justice
ruling made public last month.

The ruling
eases the way for online lottery sales and online gambling.

[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the Hartford COURANT website]For those who might want to know
who will be in charge of
gambling in CT...no longer.Ken
Flatto to join Malloy administrationCT POST
Published 10:25 a.m., Tuesday, March 22, 2011

FAIRFIELD -- First Selectman Ken Flatto is joining the
Malloy administration as the Executive Director of the
Division of Special Revenue.

The division is responsible for managing various special
revenues and for regulating legalized gaming in the State of
Connecticut, including the Lottery and Foxwoods and Mohegan
Sun.

"Ken will bring his 30 years of experience as a financial
and accounting manager to this integral position," said
Governor Malloy. "Although we are trying to maximize revenue
that comes into the state, we always need to be mindful that
it does not come at the expense of our state's citizens."

[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the CT POST website]SPECIAL SESSION - ACTION JANUARY 6, 2003Las Vegas
Nights Are Gone; Legislature Repeals Law;
Rowland Expected To Concur

January
7,
2003 - By RICK GREEN, Courant Staff Writer

Alarmed
at
the growing likelihood of more Indian casinos, state legislators
repealed the state's Las Vegas nights law Monday - despite
claims their dramatic action will do little to block the spread
of gambling in Connecticut.

The
vote
came at a special session after lengthy delay tactics by urban
legislators who support Indian casinos, who talked for hours
Monday afternoon and into theevening in a futile effort to derail the bill
outlawing Las Vegas nights. Supporters of the repeal say it will
allow the two existing Indian casinos to operate while outlawing
future casinos operated by other tribes; opponents say
Connecticut must prohibit all forms of gambling if it wants to
stop casinos.

"If
this
is so meaningless, why all the rhetoric and all the effort to
stop this repeal from happening?" said Jeff Benedict, president
of the Connecticut Alliance AgainstCasino Expansion. "It isn't meaningless."

In
the
state House, legislators voted 83-59 to repeal the law, with
most legislators from cities voting against. In the Senate,
which convened in special session after hours of House debate,
the tally was 25-10 to repeal. The vote came a dozen years after
the legislature rejected an attempt to repeal the Las Vegas
nights law, which could have blocked the opening of Foxwoods
Resort Casino.

"I
voted
to repeal 12 years ago. It's nice to have a change this time
around," said state Rep. Jefferson Davis, D-Pomfret. "Nobody can
predict what the courts are going to say. It is the only step we
have available to us now."

[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the Hartford COURANT website]

Way
back
in 1993 the LWV of Weston proposed and was successful in
persuading Convention to do a Concurrence with LWV of
Pennsylvania to oppose additional forms of gambling, and
concurrence was reached on the following position effective
1994: